Management of collaborative teams

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for dynamically creating collaborative teams and managing collaborative work of a team are generally disclosed herein. One example embodiment includes the dynamic creation of a collaborative team by creating an association between team members via a managing module. The managing module may be capable of managing, among other things, team members on a team, tasks and goals of each member of the team, as well as documentation associated with the team. In some embodiments, the managing module may use a chat or messaging protocol to manage collaborative modifications to documents of the team.

This application is a U.S. National Stage Filing under 35 U.S.C. 371from International Application No. PCT/US2011/067943, filed on Dec. 29,2011, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments pertain to network-based communications. Some embodimentsrelate to the use of chat or messaging protocols to create network-basedconnections.

BACKGROUND

An employee or worker may have a broad, multifaceted role in a businessor corporation. The worker may belong to several different collaborativeteams and may be one of any number of members on the team. In somecases, these teams may have overlapping membership and goals.Additionally, each team may have multiple shared documents upon whichthe team may collaborate.

Collaborative teams may create a logistical challenge for each worker onthe team. For example, it may be difficult for a worker to keep track ofthe various teams of which the worker may be a member, including keepingtrack of the worker's role, other team members, deliverables, etc.Additionally, it may be difficult to ensure that each worker is workingfrom the most up-to-date content or document and is able to find anyrelevant resources needed.

Typically, collaborative work may be managed via technologies that uselocal and cloud-based services to try to address user needs. Currenttechnologies may create a patchwork of ad-hoc Internet sites andapplications which provide marginal productivity gains. Furthermore,because these current technologies are typically proprietary, it may bedifficult to create a common ground for various applications fromdifferent vendors to allow these applications to work together in auseful way.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary collaborative team environment inaccordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary method for creating a collaborative teamassociation in accordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method for providing collaborativedocumentation to a plurality of team members on a team in accordancewith example embodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example data file containing information aboutmodifications made to a collaborative document in accordance withexample embodiments; and

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine upon which anyone or more of the techniques discussed herein may be performed inaccordance with example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustratespecific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practicethem. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical,process, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodimentsmay be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments.Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalentsof those claims.

Several of the embodiments described herein provide techniques forcreating and managing collaborative working teams using a teammanagement module or a team management logic unit. In exampleembodiments, a collaborative team may be created by creating anassociation between team members and the collaborative documentsbelonging to the collaborative team. In some embodiments, a team memberon a particular team may also be a member of any number of other teams.The associations between teams and team members may be mapped and usedfor efficient project management. In some embodiments, the collaborativeteam may be created upon the creation of an initial meeting of the team.For example, a team leader may send a meeting invitation to members ofthe team to begin work on a team project associated with the team. Theassociation between team members may be created via the creation of themeeting invitation sent to members of the team.

In some embodiments, each team may be associated with one or morecollaborative team documents related to a team project. These documentsmay be created using any software application, herein referred to simplyas “application.” for the creation of any kind of document, such as,e.g., a spreadsheet document, a word processing document, a presentationdocument, etc. Each document that is related to the team project may beassociated with the members of the team. In some embodiments, the teammanagement module may allow members of the team to simultaneously modifya collaborative team document in a manner such that each member of theteam is notified of changes made by other team members and provided anup-to-date version of the document.

In some embodiments, the team management module may utilize aninfrastructure that is based on a chat or messaging protocol. Thisinfrastructure may allow for the organization and management of linksbetween team members and documents, as well as simultaneousmodifications made to a document by one or more team members.

For example, FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary collaborative team environment100 through which the creation and management of a team and itsdocuments may be performed. The collaborative team environment mayinclude a team management module 130 in communication with one or moreteam member platforms (105, 110, 115, and 120) having one or moreapplications 125. The collaborative team environment may be incommunication with the one or more team member platforms (105, 110, 115,and 120) via any type of communication network.

The one or more applications 125 of each team member platform 105, 110,115, and 120 may be any application that a team member may use toperform any task. For example, these applications 125 may include aspreadsheet application, a word processing application, a presentationapplication, a calendar or meeting application, an Internet browser, anemail application, a chat application, etc. Each team member platform105, 110, 115, and 120 may include any number and type of application125. In some embodiments, the applications 125 may be in communicationwith one another such that activity by a team member within oneapplication may impact activity within another application.

The team member platforms 105, 110, 115, and 120 in communication withthe team management module 130 may represent platforms of a member orworker on a collaborative team. In some embodiments, these team memberplatforms 105, 110, 115, and 120 may be a machine (e.g., computer)having applications through which a team member may work on any teamproject. For example, the team member platforms 105, 110, 115, and 120may be workstations on which a user may create and/or modify acollaborative team document using an application 125. The collaborativeteam environment 100 may have any number of team member platforms 105,110, 115, and 120. For example, a team having four team members mayinclude four team member platforms, which the team management module 130may associate with one another and manage. Additionally, the teammanagement module 130 may manage any number of teams having any numberof team member platforms associated with each team.

In some embodiments, the team management module 130 may be implementedin any manner (e.g., hypertext markup language (HTML)). In oneembodiment, the team management module 130 may be implemented usingHTML5, such that the team management module 130 may be platformindependent and may operate via any operating system. The teammanagement module 130 may use a chat or messaging protocol to createcollaborative connections between each team member (and team memberplatforms) as well as between applications 125 of each team memberplatform, allowing these entities to communicate information such as,e.g., each entity's state, changes to documents made by team members,requests or transactions for harmonizing interactions, etc. The chat ormessaging protocol may be any chat or messaging protocol (e.g.,extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP)). The chat protocolallows the team management module 130 to monitor and manage connectionsas well as creation and modification of team documents. In someembodiments, the chat protocol allows for the creation of a data filecontaining information, such as information about modifications made toa document by team members, when each modification was made and by whom,sources of the content in the document, etc. Because the data filecreated via the chat protocol concisely describes modifications to adocument, the updating of team member documents may be efficient.Furthermore, using the chat infrastructure may allow platform-agnosticteam collaboration.

In some embodiments, the applications 125 may be part of a suite ofapplications that include the team management module 130. In someembodiments, the team management module 130 may be a third-partyapplication capable of managing documents via an application programminginterface (API) or a plug-in or add-on for applications 125, such asapplications in Microsoft Office™, which was developed by Microsoft™,Inc. of Redmond, Wash.

In some embodiments, a collaborative working team may be dynamicallydefined via a calendar entry made using a calendar application, whichmay be one of the applications 125. This may be useful since calendarapplications may contain contact information for people within anorganization and may be used to schedule meetings with other people. Forexample, a team may meet regularly at a particular time and date with aset of team members attending the meetings. These meetings may bedefined by a calendar entry for this meeting, with each of the teammembers being dynamically associated with the calendar entry and thusdynamically defining the team for a particular project related to themeetings. In some embodiments, the team may have a hierarchy of teammembers being defined by the calendar entry (e.g., team leader, sectionleaders, etc.). The team members of the team (or a subset of thehierarchy or members of the team) may be linked via a common chat serverlist which allows these team members to share a virtual network with oneanother used for communications, collaborations, document state sharing,etc.

In some embodiments, documents associated with a team may be opened byone or more team members during a team meeting, such as a team meetingspecified by a calendar entry of each team member. These documents maybe documents distributed to the team prior to the team meeting. Duringthe team meeting, the chat infrastructure of the team management module130 may examine the team members attending the meeting as well asdocuments opened by the team members during the meeting on the teammember platforms. Common documents opened on team members' platforms maybe identified automatically and associated with the team and the teammembers. In some embodiments, the team management module 130 maydetermine that a particular document is used more frequently by aparticular subset of the plurality of team members and may define thatsubset of team members as a core group of team members to the team.

In some embodiments, these common documents may be identified by theteam members themselves and tagged as being associated with the team,either before or after distribution of the document. In someembodiments, documents common to the team may be stored in a designatedlocation. In some embodiments, these identified files and/or folders maybe highlighted by team members as being associated with the team. Themetadata for these files and/or folders may be associated with one ormore calendar entries associated with the team, and the files and/orfolders themselves may be tagged as being associated with the one ormore calendar entries as well. For example, a document may include ametadata tag indicating calendar information, project title, teammembers, optional attendees for a meeting, etc.

In some embodiments, the metadata for documents common to the team maybe used to search for similar content and information on thecollaborative team environment 100 (e.g., content from other projects).For example, a search for similar existing content from one project mayresult in material that may be used to advance the progress of anotherproject. Additionally, in some embodiments, each document may haveweighed values associated with the metadata tag of the document. Theseweighed values may be based on frequency of use, particular individualsections of the document used most frequently, age of the document, etc.These weighed values may be used to determine the importance and/orrelevance of the document.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary method 200 for creating a collaborativeteam association. In operation 205, the team management module 130 mayreceive a request to create a team. The request may include informationsuch as team members of the team, documents associated with the team,etc. In some embodiments, the request may be sent via a calendar entryusing a calendar application, as described above. In some embodiments, arequest may be generated by a team member of the team.

In operation 210, the team management module may use the information inthe request to define the team. The team may be defined by informationsuch as scheduled meeting times and places, team members, leaders,project title, business departments associated with the project, etc.

In operation 215, the team management module may also use theinformation in the request to associate the appropriate documents withthe team defined in operation 210. In some embodiments, the associationof these documents may be stored in memory at the team managementmodule. In some embodiments, team members may be able to access thisinformation to change associations of documents to a team or to addadditional documents to be associated.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method 300 for providing collaborativedocumentation to a plurality of team members on a team. A team may workfrom a document collaboratively, and team members may be able tosimultaneously contribute to the document, whether the team members areonline or offline. Each team member may have a working copy of thecollaborative document on the team member's platform, such as teammember platforms 105, 110, 115, and 120. The team members may each havea working copy through applications on their platforms (such asapplication 125), which may be in communication with one another throughthe chat infrastructure. When a team member opens his or her copy of thecollaborative document via an application on the team member's platform,the team member may modify the document, whether online or offline. Themodifications made to the document may include additions, deletions,changes to content, etc. In some embodiments, the modification mayinclude an addition of content from other document sources.

When a team member modifies a working copy, a data file may be modifiedaccordingly. The data file may be associated with the working copy onthe team member's platform and may contain a list of modifications madeto a document since the document was initially created. The data filemay include information about modifications made to the document,including any modifications made by team members, sources for contentmodified (e.g., other documents on the system), etc. In someembodiments, the data file having modification information may resemblea chat file indicating a date, time, an identifier for one or moreusers, and the chat content from each user.

In some embodiments, the data files may be synchronized using a masterclock. This may ensure that the times when modifications were made tocopies of a collaborative document are synchronized across team memberplatforms. In some embodiments, a particular team member platform (e.g.,a team leader) may serve as the master platform, and the clock of thatplatform may be used as the master clock.

When team members' copies of a collaborative document are to be merged,in operation 305 of FIG. 3, the team management module 130 may receivedata files associated with copies or instances of a collaborative teamdocument from a plurality of team member's platforms. This may includereceiving from a first team member platform of a first team member afirst data file associated with a first instance of the collaborativeteam document. The first data file may be a data file for a firstinstance that is a copy of a collaborative team document and is storedon the first team member's platform. The first data file may includeinformation about modifications made to the first document.

In operation 310, the team management module 130 may reconcile the firstdata file with a master data file. The master data file may includeinformation about modifications made to the collaborative team documentby at least a portion of the plurality of team members. The reconcilingmay include merging and assembling the first data file (and any otherdata files received from other team members) into the master data fileassociated with the collaborative team document. In some embodiments, ateam member (e.g., a team leader, leader for a particular documentsection, etc.) may store the master data file on his or her team memberplatform. In some embodiments, the data files from the plurality of teammembers may be reconciled to the master data file according to themaster clock. That is, modifications made to copies of the collaborativedocument may be used in the master data file according to relativechronological order. In some embodiments, the modifications may be usedin the master data file according to certain preferences, such aspriority of team members submitting the modifications, for example. Insome embodiments, conflicts between modifications made amongst teammembers may be highlighted and resolved at a later time. For example,the highlighted conflicts may be resolved by a particular team member orby the team as a whole during a subsequent review of the conflicts.

Once the master data file is reconciled and updated accordingly, thecollaborative team document may be updated accordingly using the updatedmaster data file. In some embodiments, the master data file may bepushed to team member platforms. In some embodiments, the master datafile may be pulled by the team member platforms. In some embodiments,the updating of local copies of the collaborative team document mayoccur automatically. Since the master data file contains raw data ofchanges made to the collaborative team document, updating thecollaborative team document may be done quickly.

In operation 315, the team management module 130 may modify the masterdata file based on the reconciling of the first data file with themaster data file. The master data file may then be used to updateinstances of the collaborative team document of the plurality of teammembers. This may be done by sending a copy of the master data filecontaining the updated modification information to each of the teammember platforms associated with the team. The team member platforms mayupdate their data file using the master data file, which may allow thecopy of the collaborative team document stored on the platform to beupdated accordingly. In some embodiments, this may occur automatically.This allows the copy of the collaborative team document to be modifiedbased on the changes made, without having to download another copy ofthe entire collaborative team document.

In some embodiments, authentication and additional security features maybe integrated with each team member platform so that documents mayreside encrypted on the platform. The additional security may includerestricting access to documents to particular team members having anencryption key for the document, automatically closing a document aftera period of inactivity, limiting access to a document based on the teamplatform or user device used to access the document, etc.

In some embodiments, the updating of the data files may occur in or nearreal-time. That is, each time a team member modifies a document, thedata file for that document may be sent to the team management module130 and may be used to update the master data file, as well as otherteam member's data files. In some embodiments, the real-timemodifications and updates to the collaborative document may be madeduring a meeting of the team. Furthermore, because the team managementmodule 130 operates using a chat infrastructure, in an embodiment, teammembers may chat with one another via the team member platforms forfurther collaboration.

In some embodiments, a team leader may be in charge of a team projectand may be the responsible party for reconciling modification conflicts.In some embodiments, this responsibility may be passed between membersof the team. In some embodiments, a subset of team members may berestricted from certain modification authority. For example, some teammembers may be restricted from submitting a modification which conflictswith another team member's modifications.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example data file 400 containing information aboutmodifications made to a collaborative document. The data file 400 mayinclude a date 405 and a time 410 that a modification was made to adocument. The data file may also include identifiers 415 identifying theteam member who made the modification. The data file may includeadditional information such as when the document was created 420 and thecontents of the modification 425. The data file may also includeinformation about the source of the contents 430. The modificationinformation may be used to update a document accordingly.

In some embodiments, the data files may be used to generate statisticalinformation about a team member. For example, the data files may be usedto track how much a particular team member has contributed to a documentby tracking the modifications the team member has made, how long a teammember has worked on a document, whether the contributions were originalor were derived from other sources on the system, etc.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine 500 upon whichany one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies) discussed hereinmay be performed. In alternative embodiments, the machine 500 mayoperate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) toother machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 500 may operatein the capacity of a server machine, a client machine, or both inserver-client network environments. In an example, the machine 500 mayact as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed)network environment. The machine 500 may be a personal computer (PC), atablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), amobile telephone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge,or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further,while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloudcomputing, software as a service (SaaS), other computer clusterconfigurations.

Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate on, logic ora number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangibleentities capable of performing specified operations and may beconfigured or arranged in a certain manner. In an example, circuits maybe arranged (e.g., internally or with respect to external entities suchas other circuits) in a specified manner as a module. In an example, thewhole or part of one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone,client or server computer system) or one or more hardware processors maybe configured by firmware or software (e.g., instructions, anapplication portion, or an application) as a module that operates toperform specified operations. In an example, the software may reside (1)on a non-transitory machine-readable medium or (2) in a transmissionsignal. In an example, the software, when executed by the underlyinghardware of the module, causes the hardware to perform the specifiedoperations.

Accordingly, the term “module” is understood to encompass a tangibleentity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, specificallyconfigured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily (e.g., transitorily)configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a specified manner or toperform part or all of any operation described herein. Consideringexamples in which modules are temporarily configured, each of themodules need not be instantiated at any one moment in time. For example,where the modules comprise a general-purpose hardware processorconfigured using software, the general-purpose hardware processor may beconfigured as respective different modules at different times. Softwaremay accordingly configure a hardware processor, for example, toconstitute a particular module at one instance of time and to constitutea different module at a different instance of time.

The machine (e.g., computer system) 500 may include a hardware processor502 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit(GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a mainmemory 504, and a static memory 506, some or all of which maycommunicate with each other via an interlink 508 (e.g., a bus). Themachine 500 may further include a display device 510, an input device512 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 511(e.g., a mouse). In an example, the display device 510, input device512, and UI navigation device 514 may be a touch screen display. Themachine 500 may additionally include a mass storage (e.g., drive unit)516, a signal generation device 518 (e.g., a speaker), a networkinterface device 520, and one or more sensors 521, such as a globalpositioning system (GPS) sensor, compass, accelerometer, or othersensor. The machine 500 may include an output controller 528, such as aserial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired orwireless (e.g., infrared (IR)) connection to communicate or control oneor more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, card reader, etc.).

The mass storage 516 may include a machine-readable storage medium 522on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions524 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of thetechniques or functions described herein. The instructions 524 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 504,within static memory 506, or within the hardware processor 502 duringexecution thereof by the machine 500. In an example, one or anycombination of the hardware processor 502, the main memory 504, thestatic memory 506, or the mass storage 516 may constitute machinereadable media.

While the machine-readable storage medium 522 is illustrated as a singlemedium, the term “machine readable medium” may include a single mediumor multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/orassociated caches and servers) that configured to store the one or moreinstructions 524.

The term “machine-readable storage medium” may include any tangiblemedium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructionsfor execution by the machine 500 and that cause the machine 500 toperform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, orthat is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures used byor associated with such instructions. Non-limiting machine-readablemedium examples may include solid-state memories, and optical andmagnetic media. Specific examples of machine-readable media may include:non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g.,Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), ElectricallyErasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memorydevices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removabledisks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

The instructions 524 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 526 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device 520 utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols(e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission controlprotocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transferprotocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communication networks may include alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet datanetwork (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellularnetworks), Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless datanetworks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16 family ofstandards known as WiMax®), peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others.In an example, the network interface device 520 may include one or morephysical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or moreantennas to connect to the communications network 526. In an example,the network interface device 520 may include a plurality of antennas towirelessly communicate using at least one of single-inputmultiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), ormultiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. The term “transmissionmedium” shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capableof storing, encoding or carrying instructions for execution by themachine 500, and includes digital or analog communications signals orother intangible medium to facilitate communication of such software.

ADDITIONAL NOTES AND EXAMPLES

The above detailed description includes references to the accompanyingdrawings, which form a part of the detailed description. The drawingsshow, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which theinvention may be practiced. These embodiments are also referred toherein as “examples.” Such examples may include elements in addition tothose shown or described. However, the present inventors alsocontemplate examples in which only those elements shown or described areprovided. Moreover, the present inventors also contemplate examplesusing any combination or permutation of those elements shown ordescribed (or one or more aspects thereof), either with respect to aparticular example (or one or more aspects thereof), or with respect toother examples (or one or more aspects thereof) shown or describedherein.

In this document, the terms “a” or “an” are used, as is common in patentdocuments, to include one or more than one, independent of any otherinstances or usages of “at least one” or “one or more.” In thisdocument, the term “or” is used to refer to a nonexclusive or, such that“A or B” includes “A but not B,” “B but not A,” and “A and B,” unlessotherwise indicated. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and“in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respectiveterms “comprising” and “wherein.” Also, in the following claims, theterms “including” and “comprising” are open-ended, that is, a system,device, article, or process that includes elements in addition to thoselisted after such a term in a claim are still deemed to fall within thescope of that claim. Moreover, in the following claims, the terms“first,” “second,” and “third,” etc. are used merely as labels, and arenot intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.

The above description is intended to be illustrative, and notrestrictive. For example, the above-described examples (or one or moreaspects thereof) may be used in combination with each other. Otherembodiments may be used, such as by one of ordinary skill in the artupon reviewing the above description.

The Abstract is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b), to allow thereader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. Itis submitted with the understanding that it will not be used tointerpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Also, in theabove Detailed Description, various features may be grouped together tostreamline the disclosure. This should not be interpreted as intendingthat an unclaimed disclosed feature is essential to any claim. Rather,inventive subject matter may lie in less than all features of aparticular disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are herebyincorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing onits own as a separate embodiment. The scope of the invention should bedetermined with reference to the appended claims, along with the fullscope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

Example 1 describes an apparatus, system, method, or machine readablemedium for managing a collaborative working environment having aplurality of team members. The system and apparatus may include one ormore processors in communication with a team management logic unit or amanaging module and may be configured to manage the collaborativeworking environment. A first data file associated with a first instanceof the collaborative team document having been edited by the first teammember may be received by the managing module or team management logicunit. The first data file may include information about modificationsmade to the first instance of the collaborative document. The first datafile may be reconciled with a master data file. The master data file mayinclude information about modifications made to the collaborative teamdocument by at least a portion of the plurality of team members. Themaster data file may be modified based on the reconciling of the firstdata file with the master data file. The master data file may be used toupdate instances of the collaborative team document of the plurality ofteam members. The system may also include one or more processors, one ormore applications in communication with the one or more processors,wherein the one or more applications is capable of creating thecollaborative document, and the managing module in communication withthe one or more processors.

In Example 2, the apparatus, system, method, or computer-readable mediumof Example 1 may be optionally performed or configured such that themaster data file includes data for tracking modifications made to thecollaborative team document based on a chat protocol.

In Example 3, the apparatus, system, method, or computer-readable mediumof the Examples 1-2 may be optionally performed or configured such thateach team member of the plurality of team members is automaticallyassociated with one another based on a meeting request identifying theplurality of team members.

In Example 4, the apparatus, system, method, or computer-readable mediumof the Examples 1-3 may be optionally performed or configured such thateach team member of the plurality of team members is associated with oneanother based on a team member request to associate the plurality ofteam members with one another.

In Example 5, the apparatus, system, method, or computer-readable mediumof the Examples 1-4 may be optionally performed or configured such thata team member of the plurality of team members may be automaticallyremoved from the plurality of team members based on a frequency ofactivity of the team member.

In Example 6, the apparatus, system, method, or computer-readable mediumof the Examples 1-5 may be optionally performed or configured such thata request to remove a team member of the plurality of team members isreceived and the team member is removed from the plurality of teammembers in response to the request.

In Example 7, the apparatus, system, method, or computer-readable mediumof the Examples 1-6 may be optionally performed or configured such thatthe team management logic unit, one or more processors, or managingmodule is remote from team member platforms of the plurality of teammembers.

In Example 8, the apparatus, system, method, or computer-readable mediumof the Examples 1-7 may be optionally performed or configured such thatthe team management logic unit, one or more processors, or managingmodule resides on a team member platform of a team member of theplurality of team members.

In Example 9, the apparatus, system, method, or computer-readable mediumof the Examples 1-8 may be optionally performed or configured such thatthe reconciling of the first data file with the master data fileincludes reconciling conflicts between modifications made by the firstteam member and modifications made by a second team member.

In Example 10, the apparatus, system, method, or computer-readablemedium of the Examples 1-9 may be optionally performed or configuredsuch that the reconciling of the conflicts is based on a time of themodifications made by the first team member and a time of themodifications made by the second team member.

In Example 11, the apparatus, system, method, or computer-readablemedium of the Examples 1-10 may be optionally performed or configuredsuch that the information about the modifications made to thecollaborative team document includes any one or combination of: one ormore sources of content in the collaborative team document, an identityof a team member associated with one or more modifications, or a timeassociated with one or more modifications.

In Example 12, the apparatus, system, method, or computer-readablemedium of the Examples 1-11 may be optionally performed or configuredsuch that a second data file associated with a second instance of thecollaborative team document having been edited by a second team memberis received, the second data file including information aboutmodifications made to the second instance of the collaborative teamdocument. The managing module may determine a priority of a firstmodification indicated in the first data file and a priority of a secondmodification indicated in the second data file, wherein the modifying ofthe master data file is based on the determined priorities.

In Example 13, the apparatus, system, method, or computer-readablemedium of the Examples 1-12 may be optionally performed or configuredsuch that the determined priorities may be based on any one orcombination of a hierarchy of the plurality of team members or a time ofthe first modification and a time of the second modification.

In Example 14, the apparatus, system, method, or computer-readablemedium of the Examples 1-13 may be optionally performed or configuredsuch that statistical information associated with the first team memberis generated using the first data file, the statistical informationbeing related to contributions of the first team member to thecollaborative team document.

In Example 15, the apparatus, system, method, or computer-readablemedium of the Examples 1-14 may be optionally performed or configuredsuch that the collaborative team document is one of a spreadsheetdocument, a presentation document, or a word processing document.

In Example 16, the apparatus, system, method, or computer-readablemedium of the Examples 1-15 may be optionally performed or configuredsuch that the master data file is used to update instances of thecollaborative team document automatically.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for managing a collaborative workingenvironment, comprising: a memory including instructions for a managingmodule; and one or more processors in communication with the memory,wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors,cause the one or more processors to: associate, by the managing module,users identified in a calendar entry for a meeting as members of a teamauthorized to access and make changes to a collaborative team document,the managing module being configured to manage access to thecollaborative team document; receive, by the managing module and via aconnection implemented using a chat protocol, a first data fileassociated with the collaborative team document, the first data fileincluding information about modifications made by a first team member ofthe team to be reconciled into the collaborative team document, thefirst data file being in a chat file format; reconcile the first datafile with a master data file, the master data file including informationabout modifications made to the collaborative team document by at leasta portion of the members of the team; and modify the master data filebased on the reconciliation of the first data file with the master datafile, wherein the master data file is used to update instances of thecollaborative team document of the members of the team.
 2. The apparatusof claim 1, wherein the master data file includes data for trackingmodifications made to the collaborative team document based on a chatprotocol.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each member of the teamis associated with one another based on a team member request toassociate the members with one another.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the one or more processors is further configured toautomatically remove a member from the team based on a frequency ofactivity of the member.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one ormore processors is further configured to receive a request to remove amember from the team, and to remove the member from the team in responseto the request.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or moreprocessors resides on a member platform of a member of the team.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the reconciliation of the first data filewith the master data file includes reconciling conflicts betweenmodifications made by the first team member and modifications made by asecond team member.
 8. A computer-implemented method for managing acollaborative working environment, comprising: associating, by a teammanagement logic unit, users identified in a calendar entry for ameeting as members of a team authorized to access and make changes to adocument, the team management logic being configured to manage access tothe document; receiving, by the team management logic unit via aconnection implemented using a chat protocol, a first data fileassociated the document, the first data file including information aboutmodifications made by a first team member of the team to be reconciledinto the document; responsive to the receiving, reconciling by the teammanagement logic unit, the first data file with a master data file, themaster data file including information about modifications made to thedocument by at least a portion of the members of the team; andresponsive to the reconciling, modifying the master data file by theteam management logic unit based on the reconciling of the first datafile with the master data file, wherein the master data file is used toupdate instances of the document of the members of the team.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the master data file includes data fortracking modifications made to the document based on a chat protocol.10. The method of claim 8, wherein each member of the team is associatedwith one another based on a team member request to associate the memberswith one another.
 11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:automatically removing a member of the team based on a frequency ofactivity of the member.
 12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:receiving a request to remove a member of the team; and removing themember from the team in response to the request.
 13. The method of claim8, wherein the team management logic unit resides on a member platformof a member of the team.
 14. The method of claim 8, wherein thereconciling of the first data file with the master data file includesreconciling conflicts between modifications made by the first member andmodifications made by a second member.
 15. The method of claim 14,wherein the reconciling of the conflicts is based on a time of themodifications made by the first member and a time of the modificationsmade by the second member.
 16. A system for managing a collaborativeworking environment, comprising: one or more processors; one or moresoftware applications in communication with the one or more processors,the one or more software applications capable of creating acollaborative team document; and a managing module includinginstructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein themanaging module is configured to: associate users identified in acalendar entry for a meeting as members of a team authorized to accessand make changes to a collaborative team document, the managing modulebeing configured to manage access to the collaborative team document;receive, via a connection implemented using a chat protocol, a firstdata file associated with the collaborative team document, the firstdata file including information about modifications made by a first teammember of the team to be reconciled into the collaborative teamdocument; reconcile the first data file with a master data file, themaster data file including information about modifications made to thecollaborative team document by at least a portion of the members of theteam; and modify the master data file based on the reconciliation of thefirst data file with the master data file, wherein the master data fileis used to update instances of the collaborative team document of themembers of the team.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the master datafile includes data for tracking modifications made to the collaborativeteam document based on a chat protocol.
 18. The system of claim 16,wherein each team member of the team is associated with one anotherbased on a team member request to associate the members of the team withone another.
 19. The system of claim 16, wherein the managing module isfurther configured to automatically remove a member from the team basedon a frequency of activity of the member.
 20. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the chat protocol comprises XMPP.
 21. The method of claim 8,wherein the chat protocol comprises XMPP.
 22. The system of claim 16,wherein the chat protocol comprises XMPP.
 23. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein at least a portion of the members are granted access to thecollaborative team document based on the document being opened byanother team member.
 24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein thecollaborative team document includes metadata indicating the calendarentry and wherein access is granted to the members of the team based onthe calendar entry metadata.
 25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein thecollaborative team document includes metadata indicating at least oneof: a project title, members, or optional attendees to the meeting. 26.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the collaborative team document isstored in a folder, the folder tagged with metadata indicating thecalendar entry.
 27. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the chat fileformat includes a date, a time, an identifier of a member, and a chatcontent from the member.
 28. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theinstructions further cause the one or more processors to: notify themembers of the team of the modification to the master file utilizing thechat file format.
 29. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the members ofthe team are linked via a common chat server list.